Firstly, thread, NZ- I agree with the bold part. Finally, I might as well throw two dice to prdict this one. We are a new look side, however, I hope we can keep it tight. Our back 5 look quite solid and with Eustace in front of them I don't think we'll conceed many this season.
Bad news already - although to be honest I never expected Geijo to be in contention anyway.But Murray as well http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp...could_be_without_Geijo_and_Murray_for_opener/
Zola seems to be cautious about player fitness, so until he starts coming under real pressure I'll take "doubtful" as "definite no". Hopefully Pudil and Iwelumo will come into the starting lineup. Can't see too many other changes.
i think you're right NNW...certainly there is extra caution over McGinn now that the new team is in...but i'd expect him to be playing by the end of September (hopefully!)
Palace have lost a few key players from last season including Scannell, Clyne and Ambrose. They have managed to hang onto Zaha but have not brought in much except for Peter Ramage, Joel Ward and a striker. Still a very young squad that will probably get stronger as the season goes on. Good test for us as Palace are a selling club like ourselves and also in a period of transition. I fully expect us to at least get a draw and possibly a comfortable win.
There's your yardstick for the Pozzo question then. A repeat of that scoreline, or worse, means negative - anything else means positive.
Hi everyone! And well done Hampshire for stepping up and doing the match thread, great job! I am peronally confident that we can get something at Palace today, we should try not to dwell on the fitness of our new signings (as frustrating as it is!) and remember that the current squad we have were good enough to finish 11th last season and at their best can beat most teams in the division. Maybe it is a good thing that all these new players are out, I think if we had lots of new players in the first team it may take even longer for us to gel. The ones I am gutted about are Murray and Pudil but sounds like they should be back to fitness soon. Im going to predict a hard thought draw today, 1-1. COYH!
3CR exclusively focussing on Watford from 2:30, with Milton Keynes (the town, not the club) getting half an hour of exclusive coverage too starting from next week. Have they have finally realised just how blatant their Bedfordshi*e bias was?
Main team news: Murray in for Vydra, who is on the bench. Other 10 players the same as against Wycombe, notably Yeates stays in the team ahead of Vydra. Connor Smith on the bench.
Following this as I travel to Manchester to see some mates, sorry I never updated the palace team news! Thinking it could be a hard game but still think we may squeak a win!
Watford: Almunia; Doyley, Taylor, Nosworthy, Dickinson; Abdi, Eustace (c) Hogg; Murray, Garner, Yeates. Subs: Bond, Hodson, Vydra, Thompson, Iwelumo, Smith & Forsyth. Palace: Speroni, Ward, Parr, Martin, Dikgacoi, Garvan, Jedinak (c), Zaha, Wilbraham, Moxey, Ramage. Subs: Wright, O'Keefe, Appiah, De Silva, Parsons, Sekajja, Price
Two reasons I can think of. That Zola wants to go out of his way to show that he is only replacing players who have shown that they are not good enough. Or that Zola doesn't think Vydra and Murray can start every game, and wants to rotate them to be confident of having one big gun at his best every week.
